The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1887-04-29
IN BORROWED PLUMAGE.
An Agency for Fitting out Women II
Hired Ffucrv

ttIrsn ffuerF.
There is a curious br ,keraCe business
carried on in a suite of wel-furnished
rooms i'm "a prominent Office building on
Walnut street. There is no jgn ont and
no display made. but there is "a frcQueI It
coming and going OF well-dressed Iadi ),
and every Indication OF a flOurishng bus-
ness.
brisk little man, with an off-hand
manner and Il prOfuSiOu Of iewelry IS
the manager of the establishment. His
assistants are all women, for the place
is the agency of a New York hOu-e which
makes u business Of hiring out costly
dresses for summer, Sc Iside. or noun
tain wear, and even to parties who are
making "a "trip to Europe. Equally as
common a thing is tie renting from
evening TO evening OF ballroom COS
tunes for ladies who can't afford TO buy
expens5 We uresses for one or two occI-
siOns.
They can hire ballroom dr. IS. shoes,
stockings and lace shawl which would
cost 500, for from - to S25 a night. If
they are known they are not required to
leave "a deposit; o rwise the price of
the outfit is left with the costumer to be
returned when the dress comes back
One cO7tumer in the city, who does n
very large business il q quiet way for
the fashionable people, has in his pos
session SO, 600 worth of dressa-, robes,
SudNlS- anu QUIET IeIublt IDEIA WHICH
has come to h M in various ways.
Many rich people, he says, sell their
ballroom dresses at the end Of a S aSOn.
They will not use them a second sea-
sOn, and get back a part OF the cost in
this way. These dresses are hired out
to less particular people, who are thus
on special occasions able TO appear in
finery as elaborate and rich as that of
the most elegant ladies.
" How do you manage it p the dapper
little broker was asked.
q" Very easily. We have in New York
hundreds of dresses which are pIacti-
cally new. Some Of them are entirely
new. a lady customer who wants to
spend two months at the seaside comes
in and tells Us what she wants. Perhaps
it i four fine dresses. Ordinary walk
ing and lOunging dresses she has.
We don't hire such. 1t would not
pay.
/" We take her measure, and, if we
can fit her, even by altering the dresses
we have on hand, we fix her up with one
or two elaborate ballroom outfits, a
dinner dress, and 30 on, as she may
desire. If she should tempt to pur-
chase such an outfit as we could
furnish her it would cost her not less
than 81, 500. We charge her $500.
" She don't wear the dresses often
enough to do them serious inj Try. and
at the end of two months she has had
her fun Of finery and would not wear
them second season if she @ ned them,
while we have our $500 and our outfit.
damaged probably $3.50 worth. Size has
saved $1,000; we have had a profit
OF $3.50. Amt that all right?
" Now here is another instance which
actIa Iy occurred in Philadelphia not
very long ago.
- lady who has a very fair fortune
was about to take a trip to Europe. She
proposed TO travel on the continent. to
do it in good style, but as cheaPly as
possible. But the cost of a war robe Of
fine dresses, which she Thought nnces-
sarv, de her ue-itat. The outfit she
desired would cost her, in addiJ on to
the every day dresses needed, about
$4,000.
"The upshot Of thematter was that we
furnished her with the outfit new, made
to her order, charge her 81, 200 Cor the
use OF them for fourteen VT ekS. and got
the dresses back almost as good as new.
Since then those dresses netted US more
than they cost, and we sold them to a
customer recently for $500. Phila-
delphia Record.